ocbj.com ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL T H E C O M M U N I T Y O F B U S I N E S S TM $1.50 VOL. 36 NO. 30 PHILANTHROPY St. John Makeover Has Global Look JULY 29-AUGUST 4, 2013 APPAREL: New investor from China; chair, chief executive bring Paris ties By KARI HAMANAKA The arrival of new top executives and a Chinese investor who has taken a minority stake in St. John Knits International Inc. point to an ambition for international expansion at the Irvine-based fashion house. Word of the minority stake Beetz: spent 11 years for Shanghai-based invest- at helm of Coty ment firm Fosun International Ltd. preceded last St. John Knits 88 Driving Expansion page 10 MEDIA & MARKETING PAAMCO staff at company’s golf tournament: hedge fund manager ranked among best midsize employers 100 Pass ‘Best’ Test Employees Give Record Number of Local Companies Nods in 3 Categories T Al Punto’s “Clean Air” Campaign page 75 Harrisburg, Pa.-based Best Companies Group. The rankings hinge largely on emThe number of “best places to work” in ployees’ views; their responses carry a 75% Orange County continues to grow. weight for the overall scores. This week’s Business JourSurveys of employees inSpecial Report: nal lists includes 100 compacluded queries covering 72 nies that earned the distinction, Best Places to Work areas across eight categories of the highest number yet for the page 25 workplace-related conditions, annual compilation, which such as relationships with sustarted in 2009 with 40 companies. pervisors, corporate culture and communiThe listed companies scored highest cation, and pay and benefits. among voluntary participants in proprietary Employees were asked to indicate whether research done for the Business Journal by Best Places 51 By JANE YU ADVERTISING Gallery of Fine Homes PAGES A-12–A-23 Technology Solutions PAGES B-61–B-74 Investment Properties PAGES 76–77 Business Services................81–83 Executive Suites...............84–85 OC Law Guide ........................86 MAIL TO: Versant Gives Mazzo Room to Operate HEALTHCARE: VC firm creates new role for former Abbott Medical boss By VITA REED Veteran medical device executive James Mazzo will bring his “operational guy” perspective to startup companies in Orange County and beyond in his latest role. Versant Ventures recently appointed him as the first operating partner in the history of the Menlo Park-based venMazzo 78 Mazzo: “intriguing” opportunity for next chapter Marketing Departments Grow Up OC Takes Up Trend Toward In-House Staffs, Ad Shops as Supplements keting teams while still engaging advertising agencies for strategic guidance and other specialized services. Online Trading Academy in A quick look at local job ads reIrvine had just a couple of employveals current patterns on in-house ees in its marketing department marketing: Ingram Micro Inc. in when it hired Rhythm Interactive Santa Ana and Yamaha Corporato work on its digital advertising tion of America in Buena Park are strategy in 2010. looking for a marketing manager; The school, which offers how-to Irvine-based CoreLogic Inc. needs a courses on trading for various mardirector of brand marketing; Oculus kets, now has 17 staff members with Cooke: agencies “undersell the VR Inc., also in Irvine, wants to day-to-day marketing tasks among magic” bring on an art director to “lead the their duties. The arrangement reflects a trend across Or- creative direction and art development process ange County and the nation: Businesses big for the Oculus brand, website, and product;” and small are beefing up their in-house marMarketing 87 By MEDIHA DIMARTINO 2071 San Joaquin Hills Road: 12,900-square-foot building one of two medical offices that go to Irvine Co. Irvine Company in Rare Property Swap REAL ESTATE: 4-building trade with Burnham in Newport Center By MARK MUELLER Four low-rise buildings in Newport Center—Orange County’s most exclusive and expensive office market—have seen an ownership change without a single dollar trading hands. Newport Beach-based Irvine Company and Newport Center 88 Best Places JULY 29, 2013 佡 from page 1 they agreed with statements in those categories. Researchers calculated for each statement the proportions of those who “agree somewhat” and “agree strongly” and figured them into an overall percentage score. “In order to be considered for the list, [an applicant company] has to have an 80% overall score for the employee survey,” said Susan Springer, director of workplace assessments at Best Companies Group. “And we need to have at least a 40% response rate from those employers that have 25 or more employees. If you have less than that, we’re looking for an 80% response rate. Those are the basic criteria to be considered for the list. Once we make that initial cut, we look at all the employers in comparison to one another and see who has the highest score.” This week’s entries are separated by company size. The lists includes 32 small businesses, defined as those with between 15 and 49 U.S. employees; 34 midsize companies with 50 to 249 employees; and 34 large companies with 250 or more employees. (The Special Report, which includes lists, stories and graphics, starts on page 25.) Positive Feedback Workers at small companies generally responded more positively than those at larger ones, with 93% positive feedback overall, compared with 91% and 90% for mediumsized and large companies, respectively. The work environment category received the highest percentage of positive responses. About 96% of all employees at listed companies agreed with statements such as, “There is adequate noise control to allow me to focus on my work,” and “I feel physically safe in my work environment.” About 95% of employees at small businesses said they felt positively about their relationships with supervisors. Researchers asked them if they “trust what my supervisor tells me” and if the supervisor engages in clear communication “when I do my work well” and “when my work needs improvement.” The figures were 94% for medium-sized companies and 92% for large companies. Employees at medium-sized businesses appeared the most satisfied with their pay and benefits, with 86% agreeing to statements such as, “My pay is fair for the work I perform,” and, “I’m satisfied with this organization’s benefits package,” including sick-leave policy and tuition-reimbursement benefits. About 83% of employees at small companies and 84% at large companies responded positively in the pay-and-benefits category. Taking Care Irvine-based hedge fund manager Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co. is big on “taking care of our people,” especially when it comes to providing health insurance and health-related perks, said Chief Executive Jane Buchan. “One of the things we try very hard to do is to provide very nice health insurance,” Buchan said. “It’s a PPO, and we pay the entire premium for you and your dependent. There is no copay.” That makes PAAMCO—which ranked No. 15 on the Medium Companies list—one of the 26 firms that picks up 100% of the tab for their employees’ medical coverage. It’s also one of two that pay for all of dependents’ coverage. PAAMCO manages about $9 billion in assets globally and has offices in London and Singapore. Its Irvine headquarters houses about 110 employees, and another 30 or so workers work overseas, flying into OC once a year for several days of firmwide meetings Local breaking news: www.ocbj.com and training that end with a party. Buchan founded PAAMCO in 2000 with Judith Posnikoff, who serves as a managing director. They are regularly featured in the annual 50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds reports published by the Hedge Fund Journal and Ernst & Young LLP. Other Benefits PAAMCO’s other benefits include free Equinox gym memberships and twice-weekly catered lunches, but “it’s not just the perks … it’s also the fact that we’re an employeeowned company,” said Mayer Cherem, a managing director and chair of the firm’s Strategy Allocation committee. “People have the potential to become partners, and that attracts top-notch people who could go to a private equity company or an investment bank,” Cherem said. “They come here. They understand they can be part of the firm. There are people from everywhere and with different backgrounds.” Cherem is from Venezuela and joined PAAMCO nine years ago after earning his MBA degree from Columbia University. TCA Architects Inc. in Irvine, ranked No. 6 on the Medium Companies list, provides extensive educational programs for its employees. The firm, which focuses on designing multifamily, high-density properties, has 86 employees, including those in its Los Angeles and Oakland offices. “There are a couple of things we do [for] employee growth, and TCA University is the most important one,” President Aram Chahbazian said. “We do … meetings where we basically dissect our own work. We put all our work on the wall and invite teammates and other teams to critique the work. It’s to offer up ideas. It’s very much like an academic environment. Those things really work together to create a collegial work environment.” TCA is one of the top architecture firms in Orange County, landing on the Business ORANGE COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL 51 Journal’s Architecture Firms list last fall as the 10th-largest here, with annual billings of more than $12 million. “One of the things that’s a great benefit for everybody is that we have flexible work hours,” Chahbazian said. “We have a fourand-a-half-day work week. Obviously, if we have deadlines, we’ll work, but generally that’s the baseline.” A few TCA employees on the administrative side utilize the flexible work hours by working from home on Friday mornings. “They have a considerable travel distance, and [rather than] coming in for four hours, it makes it more efficient to telecommute,” Chahbazian said. “That’s not widespread in the office, but it’s part of the flexible work week. That’s centered around our core belief to balance work and life. We don’t encourage overtime. We don’t need to be laboring all night on a weekly basis. Believe it or not, that’s engraved in our industry. Architects are famous for it, actually.” ■